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State wrestling: JCC captures third

CALEB NELSON/DAILY GLOBE
Jackson County Central wrestler Luke Norland dominates from the top in a 160-pound match Thursday against Frazee’s Calvin Streeper at the state high school wrestling tournament. Norland earned a first-period fall.2 / 3

ST. PAUL — To rebound from a loss and turn around to take third place in a big tournament is a character test not for the faint of heart, but the Jackson County Central Huskies were up to the task.

In the third-place dual of Thursday’s team state wrestling tournament at the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul, Jackson County Central, as the fifth seed, finished above their rating to defeat Frazee, 33-32. Their dual season ends at a 24-5 mark.

There would be no fifth consecutive state championship for JCC, but that didn’t seem to be the focus of attention after the tournament.

“We ended up with a very good year and the kids got some hardware,” Jackson County Central head coach Randy Baker said.

Trailing through the 120-pound match, JCC gave up a decision at 106, a technical fall at 113 and a major decision at 120. It was that opening spurt that gave the Hornets an initial 12-0 lead.

“We showed a lot of guts, especially to come back. We got down on them and had to fight back. We looked kind of flat. Our lighter weights didn’t have as much firepower as I think they normally would,” Baker said. “From 152 pounds on up, we battled our way back into it.”

JCC senior Jordan Biehn earned his team its first win by pinning Frazee’s Ethan Byer in the second period, at 3:08 of their match at 126 pounds. At 152 pounds, Class A’s second-ranked Paden Moore pinned his man, starting off a four-match spurt the Huskies won. Moore, third-ranked Luke Norland (160), Chris Baker (170) and Keegan Moore (182) came together to eventually give their team its first lead, at 30-25. Baker’s pin brought the match within one point.

“Whenever you have guys like Keegan, Paden and Luke, you know you have wins coming,” Chris Baker said. “My coaches said I had I a guy they thought I could do well against.

“I went out, did my best and used one of the moves I’ve been hitting all year. He was pressing into me and was begging for it,” Baker said of his opponent. “I tried it and it ended up working.”

Frazee won a 5-2 decision at 195 pounds before JCC’s Justin Tirevold returned the favor with a win of his own at 220 pounds.

The Huskies led by just five points heading into the heavyweight match, meaning major damage control was needed. Facing the state’s No. 2-ranked Garrett Malstreom, Huskies junior Nathan Horn was in danger of being pinned on more than one occasion, but he avoided it. He stayed off of his back, and even though he gave up a major decision, he ensured the team its win.

“Even though I didn’t win, I thought we fought well as a team,” Horn said after the match. “He’s a tough kid and I can see why he’s ranked where he is. I’m thrilled we could get third place. We were seeded lower than that but came out and showed we were better than that.”

Huskies defeat Minneota in opener, fall to ACGC in semis Jackson County Central moved its way to the third-place dual after a quarterfinal-round win against fourth-seeded Minneota/Lincoln-HI, 31-25, and a loss taken in the semifinals to first-seeded Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, 38-25.

In the semifinals, Minneota earned a two-match lead on decisions at both 106 and 113.

Trailing in his match against Minneota’s Kyle Hennen, JCC freshman Ryker VanderWoude put his team’s first few points on the board with a sudden-death overtime decision. Biehn followed it up with a 7-3 decision over Landyn VanOverbeke.

“I came out pretty flat and he took me down right away and turned me,” VanderWoude said. “I just had to stick with what I knew had always been working, and I also think he got kind of tired, and I took that to my advantage. In the second overtime, I knew I could take him.”

With a loss to the top-seeded Falcons, JCC’s dreams of a fifth consecutive title were shattered.

The teams traded wins in the first two bouts of the semifinals match, but Biehn got his team back on track — following a close overtime setback the team had at 120 pounds — with a win at 126. ACGC then won by pin and by technical fall, respectively, to run out to a 23-6 lead.

Norland, the two Moores and Horn were all winners for JCC down the stretch against the Falcons.

“That was a tough dual but we have a lot of respect for those guys,” coach Baker said of ACGC. “We knew they’d be tough. They have a bunch of good kids, they wrestled hard and were aggressive. It was a good dual. It didn’t turn out for us but the kids were wrestling hard.”

Three Huskies named to All-Tournament team At the close of the team portion of the state tournament, Keegan Moore, Paden Moore and Norland were named to Class A’s all tournament team.

Caleb Nelson is the Daily Globe sports writer. He hails from southwest Iowa and served as sports editor at the Audubon County Advocate Journal there for 2 ½ years before moving to Worthington in October 2013. Caleb trys to enjoy life and everybody that he meets. He enjoys music, playing guitar and drums, and is an avid sports fan.